Best way to break in Dana 70???

[Sri Ram]

Rebuilding the Dana 70 rear Oo. . Is there anything special I should (or shouldn't) do to seat the new bearings, shims, seals, clutch packs?

 

[dpuckett]

THere is a thread or two in here dealing with rebuilding the D70. I was told by the guy who redid the one in my 1st 91 to go easy for the first 500mi, then drive normal. It worked, though I wonder if the going easy was absolutley necessary. There are others who maintain that going easy is unnecessary if you set it up right the first time. Do a search, I believe it was 1stGen4evr who started one thread that went on for several pages.



Daniel

 

[Nate]

Drive it for 15 mins. Park it and wait for it to cool. Repeat. Then no towing of hard driving for 500 miles.

 

[Sri Ram]

Found the thread. Lots of info in there. Thanks!

 

[1stgen4evr]

I went back and reviewed those post. Note that you will have to sign in with your pass word and forum name when you access those archived posts.



When I did my 93, the bearing hub on the ring gear side of the carrier (where most of the load is) was eroded so that a new bearing would not suffice. I had a carrier from a salvage truck that I substituted. Going from a different housing, the original shims were not nearly correct. I did the job under the truck and it was pretty agravating. But it is done and working fine.



James

 

[Sri Ram]

Glad to hear all is well, James. Mine is done now, too, and is running real smooth. No more chatter, improved traction, and even the tracking has improved. I'd recommend this rebuild for any high mileage D70 (mine had nearly 250k). Is there any alignment I need to (or can) have done?

 

[1stgen4evr]

If there is an alignment problem associated with the rear axle, it can only be one of two things. The housing on some trucks has been known to be bent. There are post regarding this. Or second, the center bolt in the spring group is broken and allowing the axle to shift thus allowing the truck to travel in a slewed position. The bent axle will mostly show up as eating tires.



James

 

[Sri Ram]

If there is an alignment problem associated with the rear axle, it can only be one of two things. The housing on some trucks has been known to be bent. There are post regarding this. Or second, the center bolt in the spring group is broken

Since I've got new rear suspension, I guess I have nothing to worry about. I searched a bit for posts on bent D70's but didn't find anything. Can you point me in the right direction?